WWE Wrestlemania 36: Anthony Davies’ Preview

With Wrestlemania 36 starting tonight for the first time ever over two shows. I take a look at what will go down at the showcase of the immortals. WWE Wrestlemania 36: Preview by Anthony Davies.

WWE Championship Match Brock Lesnar v Drew McIntyre

When Drew McIntyre entered the Royal Rumble everyone was hoping he would be the one to eliminate Brock Lesnar and when he did the place became unglued. He went on to win the match and has been booked as a equal to Lesnar. Nobody has been booked so strongly against Lesnar in a longtime and having his so called number. I do believe that McIntyre was due to win the WWE Championship this year at Wrestlemania in front of a full house in Tampa. But because we are in the performance centre with no crowd and possibly going on a hiatus after Raw the next night, I believe they won’t pull the trigger on McIntyre just yet. So I predict Lesnar will win, I just hope McIntyre is booked strongly in defeat.

Winner and still WWE Champion – Brock Lesnar

WWE Universal Championship Braun Strowman v Goldberg

Strowman is a replacement for the advertised Roman Reigns who decides not to compete due to health reasons. I can’t see Strowman walking away with the championship with no build and being a last minute replacement. Goldberg is positioned as a unstoppable superhero and Strowman lost the Intercontinental championship lately after only a few weeks with the title. I would imagine we see Goldberg retain and keep the title before we have Reigns v Goldberg at another event advertised as the true main event of Wrestlemania.

Winner and Still WWE Universal Champion – Goldberg

WWE Raw Women’s Championship match Becky Lynch v Shayna Baszler

It has been a year to remember for ‘The Man’ in WWE, from defeating every challenger to segments with The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin. But at Wrestlemania she approaches her toughest challenge yet in Baszler. The build up has been good but I feel they missed a trick here by not investing more in the fact Baszler is trying and will achieve what Ronda Rousey couldn’t do last year. Lynch has touched on it but I just believe they could have done a little more. I do think that Baszler will dethrone Lynch, I just hope that if Rousey is interested in returning so we see Ronda Rousey return and cost Lynch the championship.

Winner and New WWE Raw Women’s Champion – Shayna Baszler

WWE NXT Women’s Championship Match Rhea Ripley v Charlotte Flair

Here’s a question, If Flair and Baszler win their championship matches, shouldn’t they do a trade of brands? This hasn’t been explained on television and I would have liked it to be explained. It’s a great way to build the NXT brand by having a Royal Rumble winner challenge their champion. This one is a tough one to call as I’m not sure where they see Charlotte Flair going. I think Ripley will win and continue her rise whilst Flair will end back on Raw and possibly fave Baszler at some point.

Winner and Still WWE NXT Women’s champion – Rhea Ripley

Boneyard Match The Undertaker v AJ Styles

The Undertaker has returned this year for his Wrestlemania match with a mixture of his deadman personna and his American Bad Ass persona. Fans have been calling for a return of the bike riding Taker for a while but I think this is a better approach as he can mix both characters and future feuds can look at past moments of his deadman run. This would be harder if they stopped his deadman gimmick. AJ Styles has been entertaining as of late as the cocky leader of the OC. He truly is the phenomenal one being voted PWI man of the decade. This is a match that I assume will be shot at a undisclosed location and could see more of a brawl and movie style editing to the match. I can’t see The Undertaker losing in this one but Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson will get involved and also maybe we get to see Kane make an appearance. We might be looking at a rematch at Summerslam so we get a clean wrestling contest in front of a live crowd.

Winner – The Undertaker

Fiery FunHouse match ‘The Fiend’ Bray Wyatt v John Cena

This looks set to be another match set at a ‘undisclosed location’ and this will be more of a silly match but hopefully they look at the type of match and editing/filming that Matt Hardy and TNA used in their Ultimate Deletion. WWE have obvisouly done this too so hopefully we will get something special and different more than silly and stupid. As regards to the outcome I think we are looking at The Fiend winning after John Cena has been discussing current talent and the need for them to become superstars. The Fiend character desperately needs a win too after his loss to Goldberg earlier in the year and in this setting it doesn’t hurt Cena to take a loss.

With Andrade getting injured two weeks ago on Raw, Austin Theory was announced this past week as his replacement. I think the only thing that really has changed is who will be taking the pin fall. Theory and Garza are thrown together and Street Profits have only just became champions. I think it’s changed from Garza being pinned to Theory taking the fall. What hopefully we will see is a Zelina Vega faction in the future with Andrade, Garza and Theory.

Winners and Still WWE Raw Tag Team Champions – The Street Profits

Last Man Standing Match Edge v Randy Orton

At the Royal Rumble Edge made a triumphant return only for Randy Orton to nearly end his career once again with a steel chair across the head, A move made famous by Edge known as the ConChairto. Their feud has been the best one leading up to Wrestlemania with some excellent mic work and Randy Ortons best for a long time. Orton had great segments with Matt Hardy and Edge’s wife Beth Phoenix on the lead up to Edge is return and Edge has delivered in his promos. It seems Edge has improved further since he has been away, maybe down to his acting roles he has achieved whilst in retirement. I think Edge will win this match and with a hiatus on the horizon perhaps this feud won’t progress further than this match. A long shot is we might even see a surprise return of Christian to interfere in the match to help Edge.

I only see Bayley winning here and the focus on the match is to begin a tease between Bayley and Sasha Banks. I believe we are on the verge of a break up but rumour has it they have taped different versions of certain angles and matches in case they couldn’t follow up afterwords. I believe this could be one where we don’t see the expected angle between the best friends and it’s saved until a normality is restored.

Winner and still WWE Smackdown Women’s Champion – Bayley

Elias v Baron Corbin

After the events of Smackdown with Elias falling of the balcony logic would suggest that Elias wins to gain revenge. But this is Baron Corbin and the love McMahon has for him seems to be too strong so I predict a Corbin win here.

Winner – Baron Corbin

Seth Rollins v Kevin Owens

A feud that has lasted a long time but has helped develop the Monday Night Messiah persona for Rollins. If this match was taking place at Tampa with WWE looking at their next storylines I would think Rollins would win with the help of his followers to build him up ready for a match against what would be a new WWE Champion in McIntyre. But with everything going on and after the conversations Rollins and Owens have had over the last two weeks I believe they will give Owens a Wrestlemania moment and a victory.

Winner – Kevin Owens

WWE Intercontinental Championship Match Sami Zayn v Daniel Bryan

This has the potential to steal the show, being the best match of the two nights. I’m sure we will sees physical ten minutes of action before outside interference becomes a factor. Shinsuke Nakamura must be disappointed by his role on the show considering two years ago he won the Royal Rumble. Cesaro will also be at ringside and enough has been written about his talents and how they are wasted at times. I’m sure these will get involved in the match but it will be interesting what Drew Gulak does, will he help his new friend Daniel Bryan or will be the one to cost him the match. I think we might see Gulak cost Bryan the match to continue their feud and Sami Zayn will retain the Intercontinental Championship

Winner and Still WWE Intercontinental Champion – Sami Zayn

WWE Smackdown Tag Team Championship match Ladder Match The Miz and John Morrison v The Usos v The New Day

Rumour has it The Miz was taken ill whilst at the performance center and wasn’t allowed to compete and had to leave. So we don’t know what to expect but I’d be very surprised if we see new tag team champions.

Still WWE Smackdown Tag Team Champions – The Miz and John Morrison

Aleister Black v Bobby Lashley

Black has been pushed into more of a upper mid card push at present and seems to be gaining victories. It would be a waste of all their hard work they’ve put into building him if he lost here. In my opinion he would have won the Andre the Giant battle royal this year if we were having one.

Winner – Aleister Black

Otis v Dolph Ziggler

After a long storyline with Otis and Mandy Rose flirting, we ended up at Valentines Day where their was a mysterious text that is remembered/forgotten by the writers depending on the week. Dolph Ziggler ended up on a date with Mandy Rose and have been some sort of a couple since by using Twitter. It’s very familiar storyline from a few years ago when Ziggler started dating Lana too. We might get an end to this storyline but how we move past will all depend on Sonya Deville. Do we find out she was in fact the one who sent a text and spoilt the Otis and Mandy date? My prediction is we will see Otis and Mandy leave together and head into a mixed tag match at some point between them and Ziggler and Deville.

Both teams are very much under utilised at the moment and this has great potential to be a excellent match. Both teams include amazing athletes so I don’t see this being boring. Looking at the rest of the card and that their is no real direction or purpose for the tag titles at the moment I think we will see a title change for title change sake.

Conclusion

No matter what happens at this years wrestlemania it is one that can not be missed and one that will unforgettable simply because there will be no big stadium with a crowd. It’s held in the performance center, over two nights. One big question will be is this the beginning of a two day Wrestlemania event in future?

You can follow Anthony Davies on Twitter at @Antos_87 and Wrestling Culture at @mywcnews